Million-dollar salary for P.E.I. doctor questioned

Why is one P.E.I. psychiatrist making more than a million dollars? That was the first question P.E.I. Green Party Leader Peter Bevan-Baker had for government Thursday during the fall sitting's inaugural Question Period.

"We learned recently that a psychiatrist on Prince Edward Island received a salary of $1.13 million dollars last year," said Bevan-Baker.

"At a time when the average salary for a psychiatrist in Canada is a small fraction of this amount, and when almost every other facet of health care is crying out for funding, can the minister please explain how one individual can possibly justify such a salary?" he asked.

Same price as high-end MRI

Bevan-Baker said the doctor would have been making more than $500 an hour. He added the entire salary is the same cost as a high-end MRI machine, which would help Islanders currently waiting months or travelling off-Island for testing.

"I can't speak specifically about the individual, but I do know that currently under the master agreement, which is a contractual arrangement, physicians in this province have the ability to work fee-for-service, they have the ability to work as salaried, and do contract work," Currie responded. 

"As the minister I am very very concerned obviously with the current growth of medical services here in the province.," he said. "Our budget is $110 million dollars. Currently, in negotiations, I can't speak specifics but we have expectations on how we can continue to get good value for the envelope of money that we do have."

Without naming names, Bevan-Baker also wanted to know how government measures the psychiatrist's effectiveness, asking if there are auditing measures within Health P.E.I.

Currie said Health P.E.I. does random audits on doctors.

He added this psychiatrist was hired in 2007 when the province was struggling to attract physicians, particularly specialists.

Currie said he would get more specifics and report back to the house.